Essay On Thomas Jefferson's Views On Slavery

Improved Essays
In the draft of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson condemned England for forcing slavery upon America, and then using the slaves to combat the American Revolution. He believed that slaves were justifiable enemies and that the presence of slavery would destroy the Republic. Although Jefferson believed that no man had the right to enslave another, he did not believe that Blacks were equal to whites. Slavery did in fact become a polarizing policy, and the division between Americans led to the cession of southern states and a Civil War. The problems leading to and the resolutions of the war proved to be just as complicated as Thomas Jefferson’s views on race and slavery.
A believer in John Locke’s theories of natural rights, Jefferson
…show more content…
Where the Native Americans seemed to be able to assimilate into American culture based on their intelligence, he believed blacks were innately unintelligent. (Jefferson 94) While he believed the Native Americans would intermarry with the American people, he also believed that intermarriage between the white race and the degenerate black race would contribute to the degradation of the country (Jefferson 405). Southern Legislatures with nearly the same viewpoints created laws that would limit the rights of freed people. Among outlawing intermarriage between whites and blacks, people of African descent were not allowed to hold office, serve on juries, testify in a court case, vote in any election, or keep firearms (Black Codes 573-580). Southern legislators were not the only ones concerned with the role of former slaves in America. In “How the Negroes Treat the Whites” by a Staunton Spectator, the author expressed how blacks in political power deny privileges to the whites. This writer went on to express his frustration with the government in trying to bring together two “incompatible” races (Virginia and Pennsylvania Newspapers on Reconstruction 582). The direct cause of the Black Codes is the fear of black overthrow of white rights and privileges. Immediate integration into society was thought of as a death sentence to American culture and the rights of white Americans. Fearing the loss

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    John Locke’s work and stress on “Natural rights” got Americans pay more attention to their liberty and their rights. Locke’s work influences the American Revolution and later, sets the basic principles of the U.S.…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Benjamin Banneker in his letter to Thomas Jefferson, argues that slavery is a great injustice. Banneker supports his argument by highlighting the hypocrisy of the United States and its official documents. The author writes in a respectful, yet critical tone for Thomas Jefferson. The author’s purpose is to convince Jefferson that his views are unjust and inequitable so that slaves can receive the rights and the equality they deserve. In order for Jefferson to convince him of his narrow minded and wrongful views, Banneker begins by using formal diction and effective arrangement, later on in his letter Banneker incorporates an effective allusion along with harsh diction, and to end his letter Banneker uses another powerful allusion side by side…

    • 1145 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Jefferson believed America would someday abolish slavery but that if he drafted a statement abolishing slavery altogether at the time it would be largely voted against and Jefferson would lose popularity and the trust of the people. Another reason Jefferson didn 't propose an end to slavery because he though it would be a democratic process in which landowners as a whole would have to give up their human property and abolish slavery themselves. Proof of Jefferson’s belief in equality of all men but specifically blacks is evident in a letter from Jefferson to Benjamin Banneker, Jefferson says, “No body wishes more than I do to see such proofs as you exhibit, that nature has given to our black brethren, talents equal to those of the other colors of men, and that the appearance of a want of them is owing merely to the degraded condition of their existence, both in Africa and America” (Pg 454 The Portable Thomas Jefferson). This letter shows Jefferson was public about his beliefs against slavery and notion that all men are created…

    • 1423 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Theories like natural rights of man and consent of the governed is presented in this writing. God gives natural rights of man and that cannot be taken. If a person were to lose these rights they’d be less of a human. Jefferson proposed “Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness.” At the time, Jefferson states that the colonies were not receiving these rights.…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Thomas Jefferson Opinion Paper As one of the founding fathers of this country, Thomas Jefferson is quite well-known by many Americans old and young, but not many know him quite well. He moved this country forward in so many ways, yet there are many compelling arguments today that he was a hypocrite and does not deserve the overall satisfactory reputation his name carries today. However, the fact that he was President and served our country cannot be changed. The effects he had and actions he took for our country have made it the place it is today.…

    • 663 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Slaves Impact During The Abolition Movement During the movement slave holders were preached to by Baptist and Methodist preachers. Black Harry was a Methodist preacher who was once considered the best orator in America. Black Harry was once a carriage driver and servant. He was known for his ability to memorize long passages in the bible this is why he was considered the best orator in America, he was intended to preach to slaves however, further down the road when he would speak at sermons whites became influenced by Black Harry and his skill to cite the bible so well. His intentions were almost identical to Sam Sharpe 's, which was to have slaves free and they both preached.…

    • 772 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Monticello's Irony

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Taking an anti-slavery political stance in the late eighteenth century was not of the popular opinion; however, Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, did just that. The irony lies within the fact that Jefferson himself had slaves on his plantation Monticello, which causes one to wonder as if he really wanted the blacks to be free in America. On his plantation, he did not pay any of his slaves, or give them any compensation, besides room and board, that was different to how other whites treated their slaves. In Jefferson’s piece, Notes on the State of Virginia, he showcases his unpopular opinion that slaves should not be kept; rather, he suggests freeing them and allowing them to live in their own community—away from…

    • 1070 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    pg. 17). Therefore, Woodward confronted a major debate among many historians, that segregation was not a unique southern practice; moreover, it was just a conventional idea. During the 1830’s, before the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in the North had many freedoms and liberties; moreover, in the 1830s there was a vast split between the two races. However, a small population of blacks in the North did not experience these liberties because of many states exercising legal codes, forerunner of Jim Crow, which segregated the races. In addition, Abraham Lincoln further condemned the blacks by saying, “ We can not, then, make them equals.…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Slavery obviously dissents the true democratic values and this shows that Jefferson’s actions contradicts his words in the Declaration of Independence, which states “that all men are created equal” (Heffner, 10). Despite his powerful statement in the Declaration of Independence, he still owned slaves and unlike Washington, he never released…

    • 2099 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jefferson never changed his views on slavery, even up to the day he died. Jefferson knew that if slavery wasn’t taken care of it would led to a race war that would be deadly, just like the revolt in Haiti in 1790. He also predicted that as long as the nation had a side that was for slavery and a side against, a civil war would emerge. He was correct.…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Slavery in the Southern settlements benefited the economy and provided the cheapest and most expedient way to meet the demand for labor in agriculture more significantly than the New England colonies. During the mid-seventeen century, the percentage of slavery in the South was a very minor need to sustain economic life. The next century, “Slavery would more; and more come to provide the great source of agriculture labor that white immigration, free or indentured, could no longer till, bringing with it decisive changes for every aspect of American history, all rooted in the need to sustain and accelerate the growing currents of commercial life” (Heilbroner 43). As a result of the reduced emigration, servants had disappeared from most Chesapeake homes.…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout history the united states has had many encounters and conflicts with humans that are of colored skin. It started when English men started transporting african american from Africa to the “New world” ( United States) and forced african americans to do slave work and treated them unequally . This type of racist behavior continued throughout most of americas existence. It was not until today where everyone is seen equally as everyone, however, sometimes racism still happens today. Some U.S. presidents in the past were slavery owners such as George Washington, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson.…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” (Thomas Jefferson) Some of the founding fathers were slave owners when Jefferson wrote the constitution. The founding fathers were wrong when they wrote “All Men Are Created Equal” because no one was treated equally. In the United States of America in 1776 everyone was not treated equally.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He writes, “The whole commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other” (162). This is notable because his definition of slavery is directly contradictory to his own definition of freedom. Up until his death, Jefferson made efforts for complete emancipation of slaves, with the…

    • 1008 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The beliefs and values embraced by Thomas Jefferson in his Letter to James Madison can be seen by some as archaic and insensible to a growing society. Although America’s values on the basis of economy and society have shifted somewhat, a few of his ideas can still be interwoven into how America regards itself. Another writing of Jefferson’s will be referenced in the course of this essay, since it has a clearer sense of why Jefferson felt the way he did about agrarian societies. This writing is Query XIX from his Notes on the State of Virginia, the final edition published in 1785. The points maintained in this writing support those contained within his Letter to James Madison, even if he is speaking specifically of the state of Virginia instead of the country as a whole.…

    • 1289 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays